Many games love to have special events for times of the year, or particular celebrations. The holidays and Christmas are one of the biggest examples of that fact, as many games takes time to include special holiday items and activities for players to take part in. 2015 features a host of holiday event in video games, ranging from shooters to MMOs, and even a 2D side-scroller.
Halo 5- Holiday REQ Pack
343 Industries has a small gift for all of their Halo 5 fans. Just for this month if you sign on to Halo 5, you’ll be given a free REQ Pack. This pack has the normal assortment of random equipment and vehicle cards, however you also get two free holiday emblems. 343 gifts you the Candy Cane and Spartan Claus emblems for you to celebrate with. Thanks 343!
Fallout 4
This is definitely a fun little easter egg from Fallout 4. In Fallout 4 you can check the in-game date and time in your pip-boy, and depending on what day it is things may happen in the wasteland even on holidays. If you wait until your pip-boy says December 25 then venture to Diamond City, there’s a nice surprise waiting for you. The city is completely decked out with holiday lights and decorations. It’s certainly a small but cheerful holiday surprise in the wasteland.
Fallout Shelter
The newest update for the popular mobile game, brought along a fresh coat of Christmas paint. The weather outside your vault is certainly frightful, and inside you’ve got those delightful Christmas decorations to keep you company. Along with the holiday cheer this update brings a couple new permanent elements to gameplay. Along with adding the option to evict dwellers, you can also equip pets to them now too. This adds an entire new section of items, and pets you can collect.
Grand Theft Auto V
Grand Theft Auto Online has a new holiday event called The Festive Surprise. With the update you can now find Christmas trees at Legion Square and any property that you own within the game. There’s a bunch of customization options to acquire too, including that absolutely terrifying gingerbread man mask. Snowball fights will also return, like last years holiday event. Time to dress up like Santa and drive around Los Santos like a madman.
World of Warcraft- Feast of Winter Veil
This legendary MMO has had a holiday event every year for a while now, and 2015 is no different. This winter event gives players a bunch of bonus items and perks throughout the holiday. With the right circumstances and items you can even transform your mount into a reindeer for around 30 minutes. The feast culminates on December 25, when gifts become available underneath trees in certain cities across the world. Some of these gifts are open to all, but others can only be accessed by players of a certain level. With all the decorations and events, the Feast of Winter Veil is the perfect holiday getaway in the world of Azeroth.
Rocket League-Snow Day
This Fun addition to Rocket League adds a brand new arena into the mix. The entire field gets turned into ice and the ball becomes a giant hockey puck, as you’d expect this leads to some extreme wackiness in matches. That puck can go from one end of the field to the other in the blink of an eye. There’s also a host of items you can get to adorn your car including a Santa hat, and a jingle bell boost.
The Old Republic- Life Day
This Christmas like holiday in the Star Wars universe has its own celebration in The Old Republic. Keeping with the norm of other games, players have a bunch of holiday items they can collect. Including some sweet tricked out holiday speeders and vehicles. With Life Day though, one of the ways that players can get these items is by throwing Life Day Bombs, which look strangely similar to Snowballs, at other players. Playing Life Day is a much better choice than seeing it in that terrible Star Wars Christmas special from years ago.
Rift- Fae Yule
Fae Yule is a holiday event in Rift that lasts from December 10 to January 7. There’s a variety of holiday items and quests that are offered during this time, including random events. It even has its own currency for players to acquire, in the form of Unique Snowflakes and Dark Icicles. There’s a new warfront to take part in called “A Very Fae Yule Whitefall,” that adds holiday themed buffs and decorations into the battle.
Hearthstone- Winter Veil
The holiday spirit has certainly come to Hearthstone, and you can see that in the new holiday decorations for each game board. Each hero also sports a holiday greeting for Winter Veil. There’s also a new mode called, The Gift Exchange Tavern Brawl, that has players smashing open each others presents on each side of the board. Bundle up with a mug of cocoa, and get ready to play some cards this holiday.
Neverwinter- The Winter Festival
Travelers can seek refuge in the village of Twilight Tor, where a series of holiday events are available in Neverwinter. They can collect different lures and poles to take part in the Ice Fishing Event, or speed down the mountainside in a sled race during Twilight Run. There’s even an event where players have to slay demons threatening to ruin the festivities. It’s like a wonderful but dangerous little Christmas.
Final Fantasy XIV-Starlight Celebration
Since Final Fantasy XI Square Enix has run a special holiday event every year, and now that tradition carries over to the world of Eorzea in Final Fantasy XIV. This update decks the halls of cities in Eorzea with holiday decorations. Of course there’s the special items like Santa hats and Reindeer antlers for you to collect. There’s even a quest line that has players taking the role of “The Saint’s Little Helper” to deliver gifts around the world. By delivering gifts you can obtain “Fallen Star” tokens to exchange for special items.
League of Legends-Snowdown
League of Legends hosts its annual event again in 2015, and adds some fun costumes and other things for players. During Snowdown. You can get loads of fun costumes, icons, and minions all with a holiday theme during this event. Snowdown also adds a new game mode called “The Legend of the Poro King.” Here players still focus on destroying the other teams nexus, but they have some friends they can use to help. Players normal summons are replaced with two new ones featuring the Poros.
Heroes of the Storm- Gift of Winter Veil
Heroes of the Storm has added some festive holiday skins for characters, to celebrate the Winter Veil. While these costumes do have to be purchased, there’s a holiday outfit for both Jaina and Rehgar. You can also acquire a Reindeer mount to ride into battle. Surely nothing can be more fearsome than seeing a Reindeer with a Space Marine atop it.
Animal Crossing- Toy Day
Animal Crossing is always happy to deck out its village for a holiday. In the month of December you’re village becomes a quaint little snowy wonderland, and the villagers decorate with lights. Toy Day happens on December 24th in the game, and a reindeer named Jingle will appear in your town. If players have bought the Santa outfit prior to this point, Jingle will task them with delivering the presents for all of your current villagers. Now you can be mayor and Santa, boy your villager really is a jack of all trades.
Azure Striker Gunvolt
The Steam version of this Megaman-esque game had a surprise update a while ago that added on a new Christmas mode. This fun little update adds a few holiday elements to levels in Azure Striker Gunvolt as they each now become a winter wonderland filled with snow. There’s presents scattered around for you to collect, and the floors become icy causing you to slip and slide around. A new leaderboard ranking you on the presents you collect has been created too, so you can compare your holiday skills to others. There’s even a new music track that gets added on for the Christmas mode.
Have you taken part in any holiday events in video games? Which ones have you enjoyed the most? Share some of your holiday video game experiences with us in the comments down below.
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